Jury acquits immigrant in khat drug trade

By Alicia Ebaugh Journal staff writer

January 26, 2006

An Ethiopian immigrant facing charges related to a police seizure of more than seven grams of khat in a Sioux City apartment was found not guilty at trial Wednesday.

The case was the first of its kind in Woodbury County, and was likely the first case of its kind to go to trial in Iowa, said Iowa District Judge Duane Hoffmeyer.

Jermal Mohamed Farah, 23, of Minneapolis was facing a felony charge of drug tax stamp violation stemming from a Feb. 26, 2005, search of his cousin’s apartment at 1519 Grandview Blvd. Police had seized baggies of dried khat from the apartment after receiving a tip that two boxes of the East African plant could be found there.

Two men found with Farah — Abdi Abdurahman Yousuf, 24, and Mulata Y. Ali, 21, both of South Sioux City — were friends Farah said he met in Ethiopian refugee camps and are facing the same charge in separate cases.

Khat is a flowering plant that is commonly grown in East Africa and parts of Asia for use as a stimulant. The plant is believed to have originated in Ethiopia, and it contains two substances — cathinone and cathine — that are considered to be similar to amphetamines.

These drugs are banned in the United States, but khat itself is not specifically prohibited.

Farah’s attorney, Sidney Moore of Atlanta, built much of his case around the fact that khat’s illegal substances deteriorate over time, especially when the plant is dried for use in tea — like the khat found in Farah’s cousin’s apartment.

“Someone deliberately had put it out and dried it. Even the police officer thought there wasn’t any cathinone left in it — he said he was surprised.” Moore said, referring to Sioux City Police Officer Todd Sassman’s Tuesday testimony.

In closing arguments, Mark Campbell, assistant Woodbury County attorney and prosecutor of the case, said that because Farah was the person in charge of the apartment at the time he should be held responsible for the use of khat there.

“He knew his friends had this and if they knew enough to try to hide it because it contains illegal substances, he did too,” Campbell said. “He was essentially allowing the apartment to be used as a safehouse for drugs.”

But Moore emphasized the fact that Farah let police into the apartment and readily admitted the plant was khat, but there was no evidence he was using it himself.

“It’s like a bunch of people sitting around smoking marijuana. He would maybe have a moral responsibility if he knew what it was, but the failure to get out of the group doesn’t put the joint in your hands,” he said. “He certainly did not know the chemicals were present in the khat.”

Jury forewoman Sarah Walters said the jury unanimously came to its not guilty verdict in part because it was nearly certain that only trace amounts of the drugs remained in the plant.

“The judge’s instructions were very clear and this didn’t meet the criteria to convict,” Walters said. “It said he had to knowingly possess seven grams of cathinone, and clearly there wasn’t that much there. It’s not even clear if he knew there was any left.”

Hoffmeyer said he understood how the jury reached its decision and believes future khat cases may be treated differently depending on the circumstances.

“This case was pretty fact-specific,” he said. “The percent of the drug left in the substance and the actions of the individual had an impact.”

Yousuf will face trial Feb. 7, and Ali’s case has been continued to an unknown date.

Moore, a specialist in defending khat cases across the United States, has earned acquittals or dismissals in about 95 percent of the cases he has represented, according to court documents.